American League Roundup : Kingman and A’s Win at Wall Ball

Dave Kingman hit another towering home run at Fenway Park Saturday, also had a single and drove in three runs to lead the Oakland A’s to an 12-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox.

The A’s pounded 19 hits in their biggest offensive display in two years to make it easy for Bill Krueger (3-3), who held the Red Sox to six hits in eight innings.

Kingman began the rout with a two-run home run in the first inning and made one wonder what kind of a season the huge slugger might have if Fenway were his home park.

He has hit towering drives over the high barrier in left in each of the last two games. He hit five in six games at Fenway last season.

“Everyone knows how Kingman likes it here,” Manager Jackie Moore said, “but who knows how many he would hit if he played here full time. All I know is that it would take more than your fingers and toes to count them.”

Kingman, who does not talk to the media, has eight home runs already this season. His best year, 1979, he hit 48 home runs. His home park was Chicago’s Wrigley Field, a good hitter’s park, especially when the wind blows out.

Dave Collins also drove in three runs as the A’s had their biggest game since July 30, 1983, when they had 20 hits against the Angels.

The A’s had eight hits and six runs off Bruce Hurst in 3 innings. Hurst, who was a big winner the first half of last season, is 1-3 this season and 2-9 since last Aug. 7.

New York 11, Kansas City 3--The Yankees, who complained bitterly about the playing conditions at the Metrodome in Minneapolis where they lost two in a row, can find no fault with the artificial turf at Kansas City.

Don Baylor hit the ninth grand slam of his career to cap a nine-run fourth inning that enabled the Yankees to beat the Royals for the 10th time in a row.

The Royals, behind Bud Black, went into the fourth inning holding a 3-0 lead. Throwing errors by third baseman George Brett and first baseman Steve Balboni made six of the runs unearned. A bad hop double by Bobby Meacham bounced off Brett’s glove to prolong the inning and enable Baylor to get a chance for his slam.

Dennis Rasmussen settled down after the second inning when Hal McRae’s first homer of the season triggered a three-run inning. Rasmussen went seven innings to raise his record to 2-1.

Chicago 7, Detroit 4--Going into this game at Chicago, Harold Baines was batting .341 against the rest of the league, but against the Tigers, he was batting .188 (3 for 16).

Baines had a double and two singles, scored twice and drove in two runs to end that slump and give Richard Dotson his first victory of the season.

Dotson, who missed the first two weeks of the season because of an elbow injury, held the Tigers to two hits in six innings.

He had a no-hitter until Johnny Grubb singled with two out in the fifth. He lost his shutout when Lou Whitaker walked and scored on Kirk Gibson’s triple in the sixth.

Baines, a notoriously slow starter, raised his average to .333, the best start in his six-year career.

“I don’t feel any differently than I usually do this time of the year,” Baines said. “The only thing I can see is that the hits are dropping in. I don’t know whether this means I’m headed for a big season or not. I just go out there every day and hope for the best.”

Toronto 4, Seattle 2--Jesse Barfield didn’t want to face Matt Young with a man on and the score tied, 2-2, in the eighth inning at Toronto but was surprised to see Mariners’ Manager Chuck Cottier give him is wish.

Cottier replaced Young, a left-hander, with right-hander Ed Nunez to pitch to the right-handed hitting Barfield.

Barfield hit a 2-and-1 pitch from Nunez high and far over the center field fence to give the Blue Jays the victory.

“Young was overpowering last week at Seattle and he struck me out three times,” Barfield said. “I had a single off of him earlier in this game, but I wasn’t sorry to see him go.

“Nunez challenges you, and I like that. This was my third home run off him.”

Baltimore 4, Minnesota 2--The Fred Lynn lightning struck again at Baltimore. With two on in the ninth, the former Angel star hit a home run to bring the Orioles behind to win another one.

Friday night in the ninth, with the score tied, 1-1, Lynn hit a breaking pitch thrown by Ron Davis over the center field fence for the winning home run.

In this game Tom Brunansky homered in the eighth to break a 1-1 tie. Ken Schrom had held the Orioles to five hits and a run through eight innings, but Manager Billy Gardner brought Davis in to start the bottom of the ninth. Cal Ripken singled on Davis’ first pitch and went to third when Eddie Murray singled on the next pitch.

Gardner brought in Curt Wardle to face Lynn this time. Lynn went after Wardle’s first pitch and hit it over the center-field fence.

“I was hoping for a fastball,” Lynn said. “I was trying to stay out of a double play. When I hit it I knew it was at least a tie game, but I was a little surprised it went out.”

Instead of losing, 2-1, Mike Boddicker improved his record to 5-1, although he gave up nine hits.

Cleveland 4, Texas 1--Pat Tabler singled through a drawn-in infield to score the tie-breaking run in the eighth inning at Arlington, Tex., and put an end to the Indians’ four-game losing streak.

Tom Waddell, who has six saves for the Indians, pitched 2 innings of relief to gain his first victory.

Toby Harrah of the Rangers drew a walk for the 16th consecutive game. The major league record was set by Roy Cullenbine of Detroit in 1947 when he walked at least once in 22 games in a row.